Members of the Vermont Digital Newspaper Project’s advisory committee are currently identifying historical Vermont newspapers to digitize. This is no small task, as they have over 500 titles to consider.
In August 1905, Charles S. Forbes devoted an issue of his monthly periodical, The Vermonter, to an extensive history of the Vermont press. Forbes charts the establishment of weekly papers by decade, as shown in the table below.

Weekly Papers Established in Vermont 1780-1905

To emphasize how phenomenal this activity was, Forbes noted that the number of newspapers established was much greater than the increase in the state’s population. Many of these weeklies lasted only for short periods. According to Forbes, in 1850 there were just 35 weeklies in print. In 1905, he identified 84 weekly papers in print.
Vermont papers also issued daily editions, beginning with the Daily Free Press in 1848. Forbes lists 25 dailies that were established between 1848 and 1905. Again, over half had ceased; only 10 were being published in 1905.

– Prudence Doherty, VTDNP Project Management Group